Kaitlyn Terzino
Dr. Robinson
Luke/Acts
December 3, 2018
THE SERMON ON THE PLAIN “AN ESCAPE FOR THE MARGINALIZED”
Luke 6 :17-37 known as the “sermon on the plain” is a story where Jesus goes up onto a mountain similar to Moses on Mount Sinai from Exodus chapter 20,but in the sermon on the Plain Jesus gives a confusing sermon on how to enter the kingdom of God. In the sermon on the plain Jesus uses intentional language to offer a way out or an escape to those who come to him for help. By using specific language in the sermon on the plain Jesus is able to force humanity to break social codes to “win” battles. In this paper I will argue that by using specific diction and phrases Jesus offers love and aid to the marginalized who couldn’t fight for themselves.
To understand this story you need to first understand what it means to be marginalized. Being marginalized is to be “ in contexts with racialized, gendered, and socioeconomic social identity threats and barriers to social mobility”(Deimer/Rapa/Banalas). Now that you understand marginalization, in order to completely understand the sermon on the plain you have to first understand the historical context that goes behind the story. Starting in verse 18 where Luke says, “that people came to hear him and be healed of their diseases, and those with unclean spirits were cured, and all in the crowd were trying to touch him for power came out from him and healed all of them”(Luke 6:18-19). This shows that in biblical times disease was something that would kill you if you were not healed quickly and by being healed from Jesus’s touch it changed the parameter of your life. As Jesus continues on into verses 20 through 26 with the blessings and woes, he continues to uplift the lowly and bring down the exalted just as he says he will do in the kingdom of God. By reversing the hierarchy of Rome, God alludes to his kingdom and what it will look like.
In the Bible, there is a large emphasis on the cleanliness of people and things. Therefore people have one hand that they consider to be clean and one hand that they consider to be dirty. Dirty hand is used for maintaining hygiene and work whereas your clean hand is used for social gatherings and eating. Now that the historical context of hands is understood Luke 6:29 makes more sense. When Jesus encourages those who hear his sermon to offer the other cheek he does not want them to be hit again but rather provides them with an opportunity to “win” the battle because if the oppressor chooses to hit again they will either have to use the back of their hand which is not socially acceptable or use their dirty hand which is also not socially acceptable so therefore by turning the other cheek the person will “win” because the oppressor will not be able to hit back.Also in verse 29 when Jesus says to “not withhold even your shirt from anyone who tries to take away your coat” (Luke 6:29) Jesus knows that nakedness is more shameful for those who see it then those who are naked and uses this as an opportunity for the oppressed to “win” again.
In the sermon on the plain Jesus is talking to the lowly, marginalized people in society and is offering them love. Not just any love but the love that comes in harmony with the Kingdom of God. In the sermon on the plain, Jesus’s diction shows a lot about love. I do not believe this would be evident without the deeper meaning to the context. In this sermon, Jesus shows that loving thy neighbor is not just a greeting. Love is confronting the social injustices that separate us from the Kingdom of God, love is what restores this. Being in relationship with one another is demonstrating the Kingdom of God. Love is bringing people to God and Heaven.
In the sermon on the plain, through Jesus’s diction readers can see with a careful eye that Jesus provides an escape for the marginalized from the social normalities. By understanding history and the normalities of society this passage is understood easier. This sermon shows that God expresses love for the marginalized community and acts upon it by providing ways for the oppressed to defeat the battles of society. Oakman says, "the oppressed and economically marginated groups",[are] the main point of interest here. Furthermore, this is a recurrent theme in Luke and that it is actually being conceptualised in detail here, referring to Jesus, the one who fulfils the prophecy, the one who came for the marginalized (Steyn/Aneel)”.The commands Jesus gives are not passive ways of resistance for the marginalized community, but are creative ways to show the inhumanity of the oppression.
Overall the sermon on the plain exemplifies a lot of injustices in society, but God cares for the marginalized community and because there is a specific vision for the Kingdom of God, God will fulfil it. In Luke and Acts, “Jesus intervenes on the side of the oppressed and excluded, assuring them that they share in God's salvation and defending them against others who want to maintain their own superiority at the expense of such people . . . . In his ministry Jesus helps the poor, sinners, tax collectors, women, Samaritans, and Gentiles”(Beavis). The Kingdom of God is not perfection, but rather passion, compassion and obedience in a God shaped life. By following the Sermon on the plain we would also follow the Torah which is shaped to care for those on the margins of society. By exemplifying love, we are showing that we want to live in a world God wants to see.
The text from the sermon on the plain affects the world and society because it calls out everything that is going wrong in modern times and is likely a cry for help. As a Society we need to do a better job of acknowledging the marginalized society and show them the same amount of love and aid that we give to other individuals. This has changed the way that I think about God because it made me realize how much he really does care for the lowly and the oppressed. This has changed the way I think about the world also because I now realize that it is important to love the people that Jesus loves and not to exclude because of a social status. Seeing this passage has kind of made me realize that churches tend to overlook this stuff and definitely don’t talk about it because for them it is easier to not have to explain anything. Most of the individuals that go to church have the same mindset and social status so churches don’t bother spending time teaching us to care for the marginalized because when we go to church we tend to flock to a place with people like us because it is easier and feels safer. Although this is easier this is far from what God wants us to do. On a personal level this passage Is going to affect the way I live because it was a wake up call and a personal challenge to me to try to be better to notice people on the margins of society and to act like Christ rather than calling myself a Christian without doing any actions. The passage from the sermon on the plain definitely encourages me that I can be better and that there is hope for those on the margins, but also has challenged me to realize that I have fallen short countless times in acting the way I should.
The Wesleyan quadrilateral has four parts, scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. Scripture is the first authority because it is the only measure where truth can actually be tested. Scripture is the divinely inspired word of God and is therefore supreme to all the other portions of the quadrilateral. Secondly tradition, tradition has to do with the understanding and the application of truth’s revelations. Third, reason although scripture is the highest authority reason will also help us understand and it is not human intuition but rather assistance from the Holy Spirit to understand God‘s mysteries. And finally experience, experience can be the strongest proof, although the Scriptures may say things, it is hard for Christians to have assurance unless it is experienced personally. When I was conducting my research for this paper I feel like I drew from all of the pieces of the quadrilateral. I used to scripture by taking God’s word Luke 6:17-37 By analyzing this scripture I used both tradition, from my own Lutheran Missouri- Synod background, and reason to establish meaning and understanding for the passage. And finally experience is involved once I put this whole thing into practice in my daily life and begin to help the marginalized in the community with my hands and feet.
This passage as a whole relates to the kingdom of God as presented in Luke and Acts because like New Testament passages often do the sermon on the plain makes the kingdom of God more inclusive than the Torah. Jesus’s ministry manifests the kingdom of God because like he is doing in the sermon on the plain Jesus targets the marginalized and the oppressed through his ministry. As he does in Luke and Acts continuously Jesus offers the kingdom of God in a more obtainable way and offers salvation to more people as long as they express an action in a response to a belief. Because Jesus makes his kingdom more attainable, we are earth need to work on making the kingdom of God more accessible to those who might not be able to reach it such as those on the margins or the oppressed. By specifically going out of our way to be a missionary like Jesus we may give people the opportunity to come to Christ. By first starting in our own communities and expanding, the kingdom of God will grow to include more people which is God‘s vision for his kingdom.
In this paper I will argue that by using specific diction and phrases Jesus offers love and aid to the marginalized who couldn’t fight for themselves. Overall the sermon on the plain exemplifies a lot of injustices in society, but God cares for the marginalized community and because he has a specific vision for the Kingdom of God, he will fulfil it. The Kingdom of God is not perfection, but rather passion, compassion and obedience in a God shaped life. By following the Sermon on the plain we would also follow the Torah which is shaped to care for those on the margins of society. By exemplifying love, we are showing that we want to live in a world God wants to see.